Does the birth control pill inhibit muscle building?
Does the birth control pill inhibit muscle building?
Many women place value on a beautiful figure and are willing to do a lot for it. Strength training to build muscle gives you a flat stomach, a firm bottom and nice legs. In addition, young women are also taking family planning into their own hands and using the birth control pill. Now there is a myth that says strength training is unnecessary while taking the birth control pill, because muscle building is impaired by the way the contraceptive works. Not a few women believe this myth and forgo strength training. We give you an insight into how the birth control pill works and tell you whether the myth is true or whether it is simply nonsense.
How the birth control pill works
Since the 1960s, all women have been able to get a prescription for the birth control pill and thus plan in a targeted way whether and when they want to have a baby. The birth control pill is a hormonal contraceptive. It is taken once a day, ideally at the same time each day. Young women are often prescribed the mini-pill by their doctor. To ensure the mini-pill works, it is very important to take it daily at the same time. After 21 days, a seven-day break is taken. During this break, the period starts. This is meant to help simulate the natural processes in the woman's body. After the birth control pill is taken, the active ingredients enter the intestine. The intestinal wall ensures that the active ingredients enter the body.
The birth control pill causes estrogen levels to rise
The birth control pill is a preparation that causes estrogen levels to rise. If a woman is pregnant, her estrogen level remains consistently high. Taking the birth control pill thus tricks the body into believing it is pregnant. Further active ingredients of the birth control pill cause the lining inside the uterus to change. As a result, ovulation is suppressed, because the body thinks a pregnancy has already occurred. Should ovulation and fertilisation nevertheless occur, the egg cannot implant in the woman's body because the lining is too thin. In this case, the woman often experiences a very heavy period.
Three hormones, whose production is controlled by the hypothalamus, are responsible for these complicated processes. The hormones raise the estrogen level. Because the birth control pill causes estrogen levels to rise, the hypothalamus inhibits the production of further estrogen. A pregnancy can therefore not occur.
The question now is whether these complex processes affect muscle building during strength training. To understand this, you need to know how strength training affects the muscles and what happens in your body.
Testosterone and muscle building
Testosterone is an androgenic hormone that occurs in a much higher concentration in the male body than in the female body. For this reason, women have a slender physique and less body hair. Testosterone is also the reason why muscle building in men is faster than in women, even when both perform an identical training programme.
When you do strength training, the body releases testosterone in both men and women. In women, however, it is released to a lesser extent, because the natural concentration of the hormone in their body is lower.
This release of hormones is called endogenous because it comes from within. By contrast, you can also supply testosterone from outside. This happens through the use of anabolic steroids, which are banned in sport and otherwise very controversial.
Muscle building through strength training - how it works
If you want to deliberately build muscle, you achieve this through strength training. This training causes tiny injuries in the muscles. After strength training, the rate of muscle building increases and protein is incorporated into the muscle.
Self-repair begins immediately in the body. The muscles are heavily supplied with blood due to the high strain. The blood contains many different hormones. These complex processes mean that the tiny injuries heal on their own. The body is therefore afterwards more resistant to these stress situations.
Birth control pill and muscle building - the interplay of hormones
When you take the birth control pill, the body behaves as if it were pregnant and automatically releases many female hormones. During muscle building, however, male hormones are released, above all testosterone. Because the female hormones predominate due to taking the birth control pill, testosterone production is automatically inhibited. As a result, muscle building through strength training is indeed impaired. However, the myth can only be described as partly true, because if you take the birth control pill, muscle building is about 60 percent lower than for a woman who does an identical training programme and does not take the birth control pill.
Conclusion:
You have the choice. Either you accept slower muscle building while taking the birth control pill - after all, it is not the case that your strength training has no effect at all. Or you switch to a contraceptive that has no effect on your hormone balance.
